Dead in the water

Rendering-waste spill from Moyer Packing is the third in a year.

June 12, 2008|By Riley Yates Of The Morning Call

An estimated 5,000 fish were killed this week when a Franconia Township meat rendering plant accidentally discharged waste into Skippack Creek  the latest in a string of environmental problems with the company, state regulators said.

A plugged line at Moyer Packing Co. resulted in a plume of rendering waste that stretched more than a mile downstream from the plant off Allentown Road, said Dennis Harney, a spokesman for the Department of Environmental Protection.

About 20 to 30 gallons of waste a minute escaped into the creek for nearly 10 hours before the leak was discovered and crews were able to stanch it Tuesday morning, Harney said. Sunfish, smallmouth bass and bullheads were among the fish that died.

It is the third time in the past 12 months that state environmental regulators have responded to MoPac, as the plant is locally known, after major fish kills were reported.

The plant operates under a consent agreement it inked with the state in October 2007, after earlier kills in June and September 2006, Harney said. Under it, the company must pay $5,000 every time a discharge leads to fish dying, he said.

MoPac will be forced to pay that fine and could face additional sanctions, Harney said.

Whether other violations may have occurred has yet to be determined, he said.

In a written statement, MoPacs parent company said it is working with the state to investigate and address the cause of the leak. It said its employees reported the problem early Tuesday after discovering it during a routine inspection.

We take our environmental stewardship responsibilities very seriously and we are committed to resolving the situation as quickly as possible to meet the environmental expectations of state agencies, our company, our employees and community, said Bob Daubenspeck, a vice president for Smithfield Beef Group, based in Green Bay, Wis.

The leak was reported about 7:30 a.m. and took just over two hours to stop, Harney said. It resulted from a plugged line that runs between the plant and its wastewater treatment facility, but the exact causes were still unknown, he said.

MoPac, which describes itself as one of the largest renderers in the east, slaughters more than 2,000 cattle a day and produces tallow, which is used in the soap-making industry.

The rendering waste that leaked contains a high level of ammonia, which can be toxic at high concentrations and which also binds up the oxygen that would otherwise be available for aquatic life, Harney said.

Under the October agreement, the company paid nearly $78,000 in fines and committed to significant upgrades to its wastewater facility. The work is in the process of being done, and should help prevent future discharges, Harney said.

A representative of Pennsylvania Trout Unlimited, a conservation organization that advocates for sport fisherman, said the state needs to do more to ensure future discharges do not occur at MoPac.

They should be extremely heavily fined or perhaps closed down or they should be made to have a monitor on the scene, said Charles Macdonald, the groups southeast regional vice president.

Before this week, the most recent kill was in December, when there was an apparent malfunction in the companys wastewater chlorination system. In August, 10,000 fish died when improperly treated waste was released because a motor at the treatment plant failed, according to DEP.

Local officials said they are aware of problems with discharges. But they said the matter is in the hands of state regulators to address.

Its certainly not something were proud of, township Supervisor Curtis Kratz said of the kills. Hopefully they can get it resolved so it doesnt happen again.

Supervisor Drew Darrah said MoPac are good tenants of the township. Though the parent company is in the Midwest, local management is responsive to community concerns, he said.